1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the general field of casino gaming and, more particularly, relates to playing a poker game on a video poker machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Poker is the most frequently played card game in the United States. Moreover, poker has a gambling aspect whereby a player is permitted to wager that he holds a poker hand that is superior to poker hands held by all other players in the game. Without the gambling aspect, poker would be one of the least frequently played card games.
What is arguably the earliest form of poker was played with a deck of twenty cards during the 1830""s on Mississippi river boats. Currently, there are approximately 100 variations of poker, most of which are played with a conventional deck of 52 cards. Typically, the number of players in a poker game is from two to eight.
An invariant feature of almost all Poker games is that a poker hand is comprised of five cards. The value of the hand is determined by its rank. The player with the highest ranking hand is usually the winner. The rankings of poker hands, in descending order, are given as:
ROYAL FLUSH, (Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit);
STRAIGHT FLUSH, (five cards in sequence in any suit, i.e. Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, of the same suit);
FOUR OF A KIND, (four Aces is highest);
FULL HOUSE, (THREE OF A KIND plus a PAIR, i. e., 10, 10, 10, King King);
FLUSH (Five cards of the same suit);
STRAIGHT (five cards in sequence but of different suits, i.e., (Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7);
THREE OF A KIND (Three cards of the same rank, i.e., three Aces);
TWO PAIRS (i.e., two Kings and two 10""s);
ONE PAIR (two 5""s); and
NO PAIR
A form of poker, known as video poker, is frequently played in a casino on a video poker machine. When video poker is played, there is no need for a dealer, a table, cheques, cards and a plethora of other items that are used in playing traditional poker. Therefore, video poker utilizes little of the casino""s infrastructure. Because little of the casino""s infrastructure is used, video poker is favored by the casino. It should be understood that at any given time only one player plays a given video poker machine.
The video poker machine typically includes a video display apparatus that is mounted within a console that has a coin slot and a control panel. At the start of the video poker game, a player deposits one or more coins into the coin slot.
When the coins are deposited, the player depresses a draw/deal pushbutton. In response to the depression of the draw/deal pushbutton, the apparatus provides a video display of five cards of an initial poker hand that are randomly selected from a standard deck of fifty two cards.
The player has an option of causing the apparatus to provide a video representation of an exchange of either any or none of the five cards for a randomly selected card from the deck, thereby forming a video image of a final poker hand. The machine makes a payout based upon the rank of the final poker hand.
An object of the present invention is to provide a video poker game that captures the interest of a gaming patron.
According to the present invention, in response to money being deposited into a gaming machine, the machine provides a video image of each of four cards, displayed face up, that are randomly selected from a standard deck of fifty two cards. A payout is disgorged by the machine when the four cards are a predetermined combination. The player has an option of causing the machine to provide a video representation of an exchange of either any or none of the four cards for a randomly selected card from the deck. The machine provides an image of a randomly selected fifth card whereby the machine provides a video display of a five card poker hand. The machine disgorges a payout that is related to the rank of the poker hand.
A player may receive a payout that is based upon a combination of images of four cards that are initially provided on a viewing surface of a video poker machine. Additionally, the player may receive a payout based upon an image of a poker hand obtained by a video representation of an exchange of either any or none of the four cards in addition to a video image of a randomly selected fifth card. Accordingly, the player may receive two payouts associated with two phases, respectively, of a video poker game.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention should be apparent from the following description of a prferred embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.